Just to add to Portugal’s banking embarrassments comes the opening in Lisbon today of the trial for the money-laundering of money from drug trafficking, involving five employees of BIC bank (registered in the capital, but Angolan-owned).
In all, 31 defendants face charges as a result of the case that began in April 2015 when PJ police arrested the owner of Money One financial agency – now permanently closed.
José Augusto Martins is accused of being the ‘ringleader’ of the network which allegedly used an account opened in BIC bank to deposit the proceeds from drug sales.
Prosecutors maintain that BIC employees Pedro Aleixo, Mário Vilares, José carlos Matos, Marco Teixeira and Rui Cristino all new exactly where the money was coming from and what was going on.
The five men are further accused of being complicit in the transfer of €700,000 to an account held by Money One “even after the Attorney General of the Republic” had ordered a lockdown on the account at BIC, reports Correio da Manhã.
